[Xen-users] Always losing the console output after "Scrubbing free RAM"

[Martin Cracauer <cracauer@xxxxxxxx>]

Hello.

I have continued problems with an initial Xen run.  After "Scrubbing
free RAM" the monitor goes blank (existing output is erased) and it
stays that way.  The machine doesn't come up pingable, it just goes
possum.

Thinking the console output is redirected, I have literally tried all
variants and combinations of passing parameters to the Linux kernel
that I'm loading in there.  Everything related to console=, xencons=,
novidmodechange(?) and a few more.  Not only didn't it solve the
problem, there was no change at all, so I think I am on an entirely
wrong path here.

Setup:
- pxelinux diskless boot
- Debian's build of Xen 3.4 hypervisor
- Debian's kernel vmlinuz-2.6.30-1-amd64 which explicitly says it has
  Xen support in (and matching initrd and all three of xen, kernel and
  initrd are loaded fine according to the output I see).
- also tried my own 2.6.30.5 which also has about the same Xen options on (no
  initrd).  Same results.

The machine with the kernel provided boots fine with the diskless
setup and local config when booted outside of Xen.

label xen
        kernel mboot.c32
        append xen-3.4-amd64 dom0_mem=262144 noreboot console=vga --- \
                vmlinuz-2.6.30-1-amd64 console=tty0 console=hvc0 --- \
                initrd.img-2.6.30-1-amd64
#       append xen-3.4-amd64 dom0_mem=262144 noreboot --- \
                vmlinuz-2.6.30-1-amd64 console=tty1 xencons=tty1 ---
                initrd.img-2.6.30-1-amd64

(backslashed line breaks only for mail, not in the file)

The hardware is a Dual-Core Opteron socket 939 in a Via K8T800 board
(Asus A8V-E) with some modern ATI graphics card.

Questions:

- let's say I use an entirely unsuitable kernel (no Xen) support, what
  exactly would the symptoms be?

- is that hardware maybe unsupported? What are the symptoms if I have
  unsupported hardware? Are NVidia NForce chipsets better supported?

What's the best way to proceed here? Should I build Xen and the Xen
Linux kernel from your sources? Should I try different hardware?
Serial console?

Thanks a lot
Martin
-- 
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Martin Cracauer <cracauer@xxxxxxxx>   http://www.cons.org/cracauer/
FreeBSD - where you want to go, today.      http://www.freebsd.org/

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